Amp/Preamp Asylum: Tube Rolling in the Schiit Saga by Greg Cz

There is a temptation to be witty on the name, Schiit and rolling, but there is more in tube rolling with the Saga. First, the stock tube has little to do with what is possible from this preamplifier. The stock tube provides a baseline and little more than using the Saga in passive mode.

I was intrigued by an excellent link (http://www.head-fi.org/t/117677/the-reference-6sn7-thread) on the 6sn7 tube posted by Jim Hodgson. This link describes in great detail the variants of the tube with commentary on the sound qualities of each. Since the Saga only uses one vacuum tube, rolling is an easy and inexpensive.

On EBay a smorgasbord of used tubes can be found. I bid with success on an eight tube group of various brands. It was claimed that they all tested fine. Not entirely true, but certainly not shortchanged for the $15 spent. It has been an investment that has paid off in spades.

Giving each brand tube 24 hours of burn in, sound characteristics were scored on a self-made scale using the identical selection of excellent recordings. This testing became a revelation in sound quality with each tube change. It is possible to voice the Saga preamp to system preferences.

There are many 6sn7 vacuum tube variations, so my effort touched only a small portion of the tube marketplace. The RCA, Tung Sol, Raytheon and GE of various vintages were quite nice. A Tung Sol 6SN7GT from around 1950 caught my attention. That's just me, tube selection is a personal preference. But I will go out on limb based on over 40 years as an audio buff.

The Schiit Saga is wonder. It has an budget price. It delivers extremely high audio quality. Honestly, not rolling in it, just sitting back and listening in appreciation.